Bitcoin Shatters $96,000 Barrier as Social Media Sentiment Plunges into Bearish Territory

Bitcoin just blasted past a major psychological threshold while the crowd screamed 'sell.'

The Contrarian Signal

When the digital asset roared past ninety-six thousand dollars, the typical victory laps on social platforms were conspicuously absent. Instead, a wave of skepticism and doom-predicting flooded timelines. It's the classic market irony—price action and popular sentiment moving in opposite directions, leaving retail traders scrambling to decode the signal from the noise.

Sentiment vs. Momentum

This divergence creates a fascinating tension. The blockchain's underlying metrics might tell one story—strong network activity, institutional accumulation—while the social media chatter screams another. It’s a reminder that in crypto, the 'wisdom of the crowd' often looks more like a panicked herd, a dynamic Wall Street veterans would find all too familiar (and profitable).

The Price of FUD

Sharp bearish turns in public sentiment can act as a pressure valve, shaking out weak hands and setting the stage for the next leg up. It’s a volatile, emotionally-charged feedback loop where fear, uncertainty, and doubt become just another tradable dataset for algorithms and cold-blooded whales.

So, while keyboard warriors declare the top, the chart paints a different picture—one of an asset defiantly climbing a wall of worry. Sometimes, the best bullish indicator is a bearish consensus. After all, if everyone on FinTwit could time the market correctly, they'd be on a yacht, not tweeting about it.

Fear dominates social chatter as Bitcoin price hits $97,000

Santiment’s behavioral analysis chart, which tracks Bitcoin’s market value against the ratio of positive and negative commentary on social media, showed that when Bitcoin traded in the mid-$80,000 range 30 days ago, the market sentiment was extreme fear.

Bitcoin spent large portions of late December in this zone, with prices consolidating well below $90,000, and traders doubting any possibility for a near-term upside.

When the calendar turned to January, sentiment briefly moved into the neutral zone and pushed Bitcoin above $93,000 for the first time in weeks. But that equilibrium did not last enough to map the largest coin by market cap’s course to six figures.

On Wednesday, bulls finally put up a fight for BTC to climb up to a 2-month high of $97,500, but according to Santiment, the market does not currently believe it can sustain its rally. The platform suggested that this lack of conviction could become the catalyst for a positive price movement to $100,000.

Market bull index records historic lows, whale exchange inflows slump from December highs

Over the past six years, the Bitcoin Bull Score Index has dropped to 20 or lower only seven times. According to CryptoQuant’s BSI index, the market is currently within the seventh instance of a low bullish sentiment.

Yet, Binance exchange Flow since the beginning of 2026 counted whale transfers reaching approximately 15,800 BTC, significantly lower than December’s total of about 37,133 BTC. Binance whale inflows so far this year amount to 42.5% of the volume recorded in December. 

When compared with the total Bitcoin transferred to Binance since the New Year, nearly 75,800 BTC, whales accounted for only 20.85% of total inflows.

Lower whale activity on exchanges spells the end for selling, and when coupled with a 10% price uptick in the last two weeks, Bitcoin holders might be confident of a six-figure comeback before the end of January.

MoreoverGlassnode analysts mentioned that long-term holders are realizing profits at a far slower pace than during the previous cycle, which could further lessen the sell signals on the market.

The Long-Term Holder Supply Distribution Heatmap shows a dense cost-basis cluster between $93K and $109K, forming a substantial overhead supply zone.
Any sustained push higher must first absorb this supply, with a decisive breakout above this range typically required to reopen… https://t.co/m1oD2wiuxl pic.twitter.com/3nKtF7cMbD

When Bitcoin traded well above $100,000 in last year’s peak spells, these holders were offloading more than 100,000 BTC per week in realized profits, equivalent to $9.62 billion, but they are now selling approximately 12,800 BTC per week.

“This moderation suggests profit-taking remains active, but far less aggressive than during prior distribution phases,” Glassnode said in a recent note.

Bitcoin support level peaks $90,000, old holdings yet to enter markets

According to CryptoQuant contributor Carmelo_Alemán, Bitcoin confirmed its new support level by breaking above the $94,200 resistance level and then surging to the $97,500 zone, amid the heavy pessimism seen on social media platforms. 

Alemán supported his theory with the Value Days Destroyed indicator, a chart of the average age of coins being spent on the network and by how long coins remained inactive before moving.

So far in January, the VDD reading is near a historical low of 0.53, which means that “young coins” are changing hands more than older holdings. Long-term investors are not aggressively distributing their positions, and the trend WOULD likely continue as prices recover toward six-figure territory.

“When Bitcoin’s price rises while VDD remains low, the market tends to be in a healthy expansion phase, where demand absorbs the available supply without generating structural selling pressure. A sustained increase in the indicator would signal distribution from long-term holders,” the analyst concluded.

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